Manila: As typhoon Nalgae leaves the Philippines, Filipinos are taking stock of the devastation wrought by the successive storms that battered the northern parts of the country.
According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), Nalgae had weakened and continued to slow down and was expected to exit Philippines by late last evening.
Back-to-back typhoons have left at least 55 people dead and rescuers were scrambling yesterday to deliver food and water to hundreds of villagers stuck on rooftops for four days because of flooding in the north.
NDRRMC said latest reports showed that Nalgae had affected 849 families in the provinces of La Union and Pangasinan.
Typhoon Nalgae slammed ashore in northeastern Isabela province on Saturday, then barrelled across the main Luzon Island's mountainous north and agricultural plains that were still sodden from fierce rain and wind unleashed just days earlier.
Links destroyed
A landslide was reported around 10.30am on Saturday at the Halsema highway when a passenger van bound from Buguias to Bontoc was buried.
The incident caused a lone fatality, 35-year-old Marcos Jammas of Benguet, and injured Melody Gomez, 22, from Mountain Province.
Nalgae's initial 170km/h winds when it made landfall in Isabela on Saturday slowed down to 150km/h as it made its way to the West Philippines Sea yesterday.
Disaster management authorities are still trying to recover from the devastation wrought earlier by typhoon Nesat (Pedring), when Nalgae struck on Saturday afternoon.
The provinces of Benguet, Cagayan, Ifugao, Isabela, La Union, Nueva Vizcaya, Pangasinan and Zambales suffered either partial or total power loss as Nalgae destroyed powerlines.
According to reports, telecommunication service providers are rushing in portable mobile cellular communication towers to restore links damaged by the typhoon.
Massive flooding
Nesat caused massive flooding in the province of Bulacan and the Candaba area in Pampanga. Reports said floodwaters remain chest-deep in some parts of the towns of Calumpit and Hagonoy.
The government has been mobilising amphibian trucks and aluminium boats, inflatable motorised dinghies and local wooden dugout canoes to rescue residents stranded on their rooftops for the last five days.
The airforce, coast guard, army and the navy have been working overtime to move marooned residents to safer areas where they could be given food and water during the past few days.
The palace, which had been complacent over the past few days since the flooding struck, had called for a meeting of government agencies to map out measures to deliver aid to affected residents.
Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte called on Filipinos, especially those in Metro Manila, to volunteer boats and services for those affected by the flooding in Central Luzon.
According to Valte, rescue workers need boats that can manoeuvre through flooded areas in Central Luzon as well as volunteers who can help repack relief goods.
— With inputs from AP
